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India's overseas critical-mineral vehicle KABIL has run into delays and lost bids in Australia, Chile, Vietnam and Mali, with Argentina the one area of tangible progress.
A KABIL-led consortium's offer for stakes in Australia's Mt Marion and Wodgina lithium mines - $184 million in December 2024, revised to $233 million in September 2025 - was beaten by South Korea's POSCO, which paid $765 million for 15 per cent in each mine.
In Chile, the consortium signed a non-disclosure agreement in October 2025 but could not complete due diligence in time to bid; a second opportunity involving state miner ENAMI was handed to Coal India.
KABIL, incorporated in 2019, is a joint venture of NALCO, Hindustan Copper and MECL in a 40:30:30 ratio under the Ministry of Mines.
The episode shows that acquiring resources abroad is not enough without domestic processing, refining and manufacturing capacity to absorb them.
KABIL is incorporated as a joint venture of NALCO, HCL and MECL under the Ministry of Mines.
KABIL signs an agreement with CAMYEN SE, a state enterprise of Argentina's Catamarca province, for exploration and mining of five lithium brine blocks covering about 15,703 hectares, at an estimated cost of around Rs 200 crore over five years.
A consortium of KABIL, Coal India, Oil India and ONGC Videsh submits a non-binding offer of $184 million for stakes in Australia's Mt Marion and Wodgina lithium mines.
With the bidding reopened, the consortium raises its offer to $233 million.
KABIL signs a non-disclosure agreement for a Chilean lithium brine project and obtains initial data-room access.
POSCO of South Korea acquires 15 per cent stakes in each of Mt Marion and Wodgina for $765 million; the Chilean ENAMI opportunity is transferred to Coal India.
Build a resilient value chain for critical minerals across exploration, mining, beneficiation, processing and recovery from end-of-life products.
Key: Approved by the Union Cabinet on 29 January 2025 with an outlay of Rs 34,300 crore over seven years - Rs 16,300 crore from the government and about Rs 18,000 crore of expected PSU investment - and a target of 1,200 domestic exploration projects by 2030-31.
Identify the minerals whose supply disruption would most damage the economy and the energy transition.
Key: The Ministry of Mines released India's first list of 30 critical minerals in June 2023, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, rare earth elements, gallium and titanium.
Speed up exploration and mining of critical and strategic minerals by opening them to the private sector.
Key: Listed 24 critical and strategic minerals in Part D of the First Schedule of the MMDR Act, 1957, with their mining leases and composite licences to be auctioned by the Central Government.
Identify, explore, acquire, develop, mine, process and procure strategic and critical minerals from outside India.
Key: A joint venture of NALCO, HCL and MECL (40:30:30) under the Ministry of Mines, incorporated in 2019 with lithium and cobalt as its initial focus.
GS Paper III > Indian Economy: Resource Mobilisation, Energy and Infrastructure; GS Paper II > India and its bilateral economic engagements
General Awareness > Economy, PSUs and Government Schemes
General Awareness > Government Missions, PSU Joint Ventures and Strategic Sectors
A mineral whose supply is at risk of disruption and whose absence would seriously affect the economy - India's first list, released in June 2023, names 30 such minerals.
Lithium-bearing salt-water deposits, typically in high-altitude salt flats, from which lithium is recovered by evaporation rather than hard-rock mining.
The processed hard-rock lithium ore product traded internationally; converting it into battery-grade lithium chemicals requires refining capacity India currently lacks.
The salt-flat region spanning Argentina, Bolivia and Chile that holds a large share of the world's identified lithium brine resources; KABIL's Catamarca blocks lie within it.
The technical, legal and financial verification a buyer completes before bidding for an asset - the step KABIL could not finish in time in Chile.